Also, gutted for New Caledonia, they were four matches away from the World Cup. They had to beat New Zealand earlier today (which is something they proved they can do, in the past), then win against local rivals Tahiti and then face the play-off with, I think, someone from CONCACAF.
However New Zeeland managed to snatch the win in the dying minutes of the match, today.

Also, gutted for New Caledonia, they were four matches away from the World Cup. They had to beat New Zealand earlier today (which is something they proved they can do, in the past), then win against local rivals Tahiti and then face the play-off with, I think, someone from CONCACAF.
However New Zeeland managed to snatch the win in the dying minutes of the match, today.

Sorry mate, but I live in NZ (and am half NZ-er) and I watched this game. It was a fucking farce from just about the first whistle. NC players flying in to challenges. Purposeful, Rooney-esque kicks in the back of legs. Hilariously late slide tackles and a studs up head high challenge in the 90th minute, which connected and went unpunished. Some atrocious refereeing too.

^Only the second time I’ve seen New Cal. in action, but yeah we can safely assume that the rest is fairly like that. The NZ game against Tahiti was the same (probably worse in fact). NZ played poorly on the night and got physically battered every other way.

^ not a huge miss for the World Cup, then. But the thought itself was very interesting. Israel are in with a good chance… I *think* they never played in a World Cup before. Anyone know what are the most interesting cases of teams with a good chance of winning a first appearance at the World Cup? Would make a good article IMO.

Very interesting from Deschamps, both Varane and Pogba are starting; Benzema and Giroud are also starting upfront together for the first time; and Christophe-walking-liability-Jallet is starting at right back. Valbuena and Ribery look in great shape. And the new second kits look like pyjamas.

There is a point to be made, but the way i look at it, you can attack more and be over the place, losing 10-0 etc. or you can have 90 minutes of the most intense defending exercise ever (particularly against the REALLY good teams). And also, to “try something” you need to have the ball for a bit first…

There is a point to be made, but the way i look at it, you can attack more and be over the place, losing 10-0 etc. or you can have 90 minutes of the most intense defending exercise ever (particularly against the REALLY good teams). And also, to “try something” you need to have the ball for a bit first…

They should got 9 at hte back and the fastest man in San Marino up front.

The thing which I disagree with is that whenever the argument of pre-qualification is made San Marino and Andorra are put in the same bracket of quality as Liechtenstein, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, etc, despite the fact that these teams actually look capable of occasionally nicking something against decent teams whereas San Marino/Andorra are usually entirely outclassed.

Also, gutted for New Caledonia, they were four matches away from the World Cup. They had to beat New Zealand earlier today (which is something they proved they can do, in the past), then win against local rivals Tahiti and then face the play-off with, I think, someone from CONCACAF.
However New Zeeland managed to snatch the win in the dying minutes of the match, today.

Here’s the highlights of that game - worth watching for the outrageous head kick on Shane Smeltz - bleeding profusely from the face - and didn’t even get a free-kick. And it wasn’t even the first red card-able offense by NC in the game! Easily the worst refereeing performance I’ve seen (and being an A-league follower I see a lot). Happy for Ispwich Town’s Tommy Smith tho x

The thing which I disagree with is that whenever the argument of pre-qualification is made San Marino and Andorra are put in the same bracket of quality as Liechtenstein, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, etc, despite the fact that these teams actually look capable of occasionally nicking something against decent teams whereas San Marino/Andorra are usually entirely outclassed.

Also worth pointing out, some of those teams are ranked at about the same place as Wales. Also bottom pot Iceland are currently in their group’s playoff spot with wins against their pot 1 and pot 2 teams, and in pot 5 you have a finalist at the Euros in 2004 and a team who drew with Spain and who had missed out on the Euro 2008 playoffs (Under Hodgson) by one win (Their final game against Portugal, if they won rather than drawn they would have taken their spot). It’s hard to pick on the no hopers when they are mixed in with teams doing well and recently doing well.

Until international football takes over the whole calendar and is split into leagues/cups like club football, there’s no way to segregate them properly and all discussion regarding it is useless. You never know when a smaller country will have a good generation of players, or a surge in development.

They should compete as is, simply for this reason - there’s no way to properly sort out the good teams from the shit ones, so they should just play the fixtures as they are now and accept it, everyone should at least have a chance.

Until international football takes over the whole calendar and is split into leagues/cups like club football, there’s no way to segregate them properly and all discussion regarding it is useless. You never know when a smaller country will have a good generation of players, or a surge in development.

They should compete as is, simply for this reason - there’s no way to properly sort out the good teams from the shit ones, so they should just play the fixtures as they are now and accept it, everyone should at least have a chance.

Well said. When you take the break in order to play two international games or sometimes even just one, they need to make sense on their own. If, like I wish, they go on to put more matches together in order to create extended breaks (like, 3 weeks), one easy match in 5 or 6 will not stick out as a nuisance, quite the contrary in fact. It would be something like the test touring in rugby.

Well, I popped along to Brazil v Russia at Stamford Bridge tonight. As the first international game I’ve ever been to - I’m not counting this - so I was pretty excited.

Obviously the respective Brazilian and Russian diasporas in London were out in force - much more Brazilians and they belted out their anthem, as well as shouting every time Kaka or Neymar got the ball. On Brazil, Marcelo was quality, he’s pretty complete and played much better than when I’ve seen him before. Dani Alves, I think, is brilliant because essentially he plays right back but doesn’t care about being defensive. Kaka and Oscar played on the wing and they did, what they normally do, but just slightly less of it because they were hiding on the wings. Neymar, well, he needs to get his arse over to Europe ASAP because I would love to see him play properly against a European side. I don’t think he’s quite ready for it yet, many’s the time he made a run of about 10 yards then got tackled by Russia’s beastly centre halves Berezutski and Ignashevitch. He can definitely make it in Europe but on the basis of this he needs to get here quick.

Then we come to Fred. Great big lump who harldy moves. Ever. Except he scored the equaliser and his record is basically 1 in 2 for the Selecao. Funny player. Channelling League 2 in one of the best teams in the world.

Russia, on the other hand, are pretty awesome. Hardly any of the English lot played, Pog, Arshavin, Billy and Pav were all missing and Zhirkov got about 40 minutes, but yeah they seem to have carried on where they left off from the Euros - lots of nippy little players showing great skill then passing to the useless Kerzhakov who wellies it 20 yards over the bar. The scorer, Fayzulin, was quality and a lot of teams in the PL could do worse than sign him. If you can find the goal for Russia it’s one of the most mental goals I’ve ever seen.

Game was alright, Russia were on top in an average first half, then they scored with 15 minutes left before big Fred equalised in the last minute. Decent spectacle, Scolari and Capello on the benches, Hulk came on, a player called Shatov came on, I saw Neymar play which not many people in England can say, all in all a decent evening. Long live friendlies, or something!

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